Car-door.



BATENTED 0011.3, 1905.

GA'R DOOR.

W, D. THOMPSON.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 19, 1904.

meow 6M 4 FFICE.

l/VILLIAM D. THOMPSON OF DETRO [T, MICHIGAN.

CAR-DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3, 1905.

Application filed December 19, 1904. Serial No. 237,436.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM D. THOMPSON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Detroit, in the county of \Vayne and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCar-Doors, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates generally to sliding doors for freightcars; and itconsists, primarily, in novel and simple mechanism for hanging orsuspending the door whereby its top joint will be effectively guarded toexclude rain, snow, dust, &c., the track and roller parts of 'thehangers protected from the weather, permitting the door at all times tobe readily opened or closed and, finally, the door held by frictionagainst swinging movement in either direction when unfastened.

The invention further consists in certain details of construction and inthe peculiar arrangement and combination of the various parts, as willbe hereinafter set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is a sectional view,in front elevation, of a car and door and my improved means forsuspending the door. Fig. 2 is a section taken on line w w of Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of one of the door-hangers, and Fig.4 is a sectional perspective view of the guard.

The reference-letter A represents a freight-* car of any ordinaryconstruction, provided with suitable door-opening B.

C represents the door, E the door-hangers, and F the track upon whichthe hangers travel.

The preferable construction of the track is in the form of a housing,which I have here shown as consisting of a filler-block G, extendinglongitudinally of the car immediately above the doorway, and anangle-plate H, one side a of which is connected to the outer face of thefiller-block, and the other side or tread portion 7) extends inwardlytoward the car at some distance below the block forming the space orhousing within which the rollers of the hangers are adapted to travel.By this method of construction it will be obvious that the track androller members of the hangers are covered, and thus protected from theweather, while at the same time the housing itself forms an effectivejoint-guard for the purpose previously set forth.

As a matter of reference, the filler-block has its outer face recessed,as at c, and the vertical member a of the guard-plate H is fitted withinthis recess, as plainly indicated in Fig. 2.

The hangers E comprise each a door-plate (Z, attached in any suitablemanner to the door C, a roller-supporting bracket 6, carrying a yokemember f, in which is journaled a roller g and preferably a wear-plateit. The parts of the hanger are so constructed that when in place theroller will engage the transverse or tread portion 6 of the guard-plate,while the wear-plate 7L will frictionally engage the vertical member 0.Suitable stop-blocks (4', arranged within the housing ends, limit thetravel of the door in either direction.

To prevent the swinging of the door from side to side when unfastened, Ipreferably taper or incline the track so that the door will tendnormally to contact with the side of the car, thereby bringing thewear-plate h in contact with the guard and the lower portion of the doorin contact with the car side. This frictional engagement is sufficientto produce the results desired. Where a downwardlyinclined tread, as Z),is used for the purpose set forth, the yoke member f of the hangers iscorrespondingly inclined, so that the rollers Q will make proper contactwith the track.

From the description of my invention as set forth it will be readilyseen that the housing may be formed with but a single angleplate, whichsimplifies the construction and reduces the expense materially; also,that this plate will constitute an effective guard for the door-joint,and thus dispense with the necessity of having an additional hood orcover for the joint, as is required in the present construction of cars.

As shown in the drawings, the Wear-plate extends on the outside of theguardplate above the tread, so that there is no tendency for thewear-plate to act as a fulcrum to throw the door out of the verticalplane. The rollers are substantially in a vertical plane with the weightcenter of the door, and thus the whole construction tends to keep thedoor in a vertical plane, which is of course a most desirable feature.

\Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. The combination of a car providedwith a suitable doorway, a vertical guard-plate arranged above saiddoorway, to protect the upper joint of the sliding door, a tread memberextending inwardly and "inclined downwardlyfrom the guard-plate, thesliding door, and hangers for the door, cylindrical rollers IIO thereinengaging the inclined tread journaled parallel thereto.

2. The combination with a car provided with a suitable doorway, avertical guardplate arranged above said doorway protecting the upperjoint of the sliding door, a tread member extending inwardly andinclined downwardly from the guard-plate, a sliding door, hangers forthe door, rollers therein engaging the inclined tread and journaledparallel thereto, and means for limiting the inward lateral movement ofthe door.

3. The combination with a car provided with a suitable doorway, of asliding door therefor, a vertical guardplate arranged above said doorwayand protecting the upper joint of the sliding door, a tread memberextending inwardly and downwardly from the guard-plate, and hangers forthe door comprising a door-plate attached to the outer side of the door,a roller-supporting bracket, a yoke member thereon, a rollerjournaledtherein parallel with the tread member of said guard-plate andsubstantially above the center of Weight of said door whereby said doortends to hang vertically.

4. The combination with a car provided with a suitable doorway, aslidingdoor therefor, a vertical guard-plate arranged above said doorway andprotecting the upper joint of said door, a tread member extendinginward] y and downwardly from the guard-plate, hangers for the door,rollers therein engaging the inclined tread and journaled parallelthereto, and wear-plates on said hangers engaging said guard-plate andextending above said tread for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM D. THOMPSON.

WVitnesses:

H. 0. SMITH, ED. D. AULT.

